4,809 North Korean Defectors in China Were Deported in 2002 Alone

The Chinese government deported 4,809 North Korean defectors in the Yanbian Korean Ethnic Autonomous Prefecture in 2002, according to a dissertation published by the Institute of World Economics and Politics (IWEP) in China.

The figures match estimates of around 5,000 per year made by many human rights organizations in Korea and America.

A paper about such a shocking number of repatriated defectors was written by Jeong Shin-jeo, a researcher at the IWEP, titled, “The Impact of Circumstances Surrounding the Korean Peninsula on the Development and Stability of Korean Ethnic Autonomous Districts,” which was published in a recent issue of the bimonthly university journal South Central People.

According to the paper, 3,732 people from the Yanbian Korean Ethnic Autonomous Prefecture and 1,077 from other districts totaling 4,809 defectors were deported back to North Korea in 2002.

Jeong wrote in the paper, “The figures were collected in 2003 when research was being done on their actual condition.”

The figures show that adding the number of deportees from the Dandong area, the actual number of defectors who face forced repatriation exceeds the 5,000 mark every year.

orionha@donga.com